Match winning hero pays tribute to debutant Armstrong

In what was a whirlwind 90 minutes, Chris Martin proved to be the hero.

In the first half, Scotland were agonisingly close to hitting the back of the net on several occasions but on the 80th minute the Fulham striker took to the field of play.

Eight minutes into his memorable cameo appearance, man of the match Stuart Armstrong threaded through a pinpoint pass which Martin was able to drag into the bottom corner.

Afterwards he said: “It was a big moment for myself and the team but we thoroughly deserved to win tonight.

“Before I came on I thought we should have been in the lead but it was nice to be the man who popped up to score the winner.

“I knew we would get another two or three chances once I was on and it was about one falling to me and me finishing it.”

Celtic midfielder Armstrong looked confident on his debut and helped take charge of the game in the midfield as well as playing his part in the winning goal – a contribution which did not go unnoticed from the scorer.

Martin said: “Stuart was extremely good on his debut tonight with his work rate and his ability.

“He showed great heart and congratulations to him on the man of the match.

“On the goal, I didn’t think he’d seen me as he took a couple of touches and he had his head down.

“I knew I was in a little bit of space but I shouldn’t have doubted him.

“He picked me out with a great pass and it was just about trying to get it on target. I was happy to see it scramble into the corner.”

Scotland now lie two points off second place with England visiting Hampden on 10 June, a match which Martin is going into confidently.

“The campaign hasn’t gone to plan so far but I think the win puts us right back in the mix and gives us some momentum going into the England game,” he said.

“A few people labelled it a must win and I think that made it easier for us as you know you need to win the game.

“We hope this is the turning point in the campaign and we need to take this momentum into the England game.

“We’re a couple of points off second place now so we’re right back in the mix.

“We should take encouragement and confidence from this and try and push forward.”